Freddy's Fairway Thoughts

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All we want is a chance. Yes, the tournament is for charity and yes, we know the prizes won't be over the top, but there's that ever-present urge to compete. It won't affect the sick kids that will benefit from your $150 entry fee, so you don't have to feel bad about winning. If you did, you'd just send a $150 donation and found something else to do on your Monday. On a recent Monday, we would have been better off. The format was the usual scramble. The benefit is better left unsaid, but you know who you are. The winning teams were to be decided by gross score plus a number based on the handicaps of your players. Our team was pretty good for this sort of thing. Our four handicaps: 3, 7, 13, 34. If you do the usual, you would add the four together and take an eighth of that for the number. Thus: 3+7+13+34=57. Divide that by 8 and our number would be 7. We were a respectable 10 under gross, so our posted score was 17 under. Did we have a chance? Sure. The tees were back and many pins were tucked. And the winning score is … 37 under. THIRTY-SEVEN UNDER? Alas, no one could be found to explain the scoring system. Second place was 27 under, then it dropped into the low 20s. All improbable. We're still mad. And yes, we won't be back. The donation check is on the way, and we'll find something else to do with that Monday.

Suckers … that's us.

So after all that huffing and puffing, it turns out that Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are going to have a manoa-mano. Hugs included. And we thought all that earlier stuff was real. Just another time that TV producers let us know what suckers we are.

Billy Maxwell

Billy Maxwell was a mid-pack Tour player who had a strong amateur career with three NCAA championships, a 4-0 record in his one Ryder Cup and one U.S. Amateur win. He was loved on tour for being a funny and very good guy who had a strong competitive streak that enhanced his 5-foot-6 size. He also had a quirk. His ball was his alone. In a Texas tournament, he was paired with a nervous amateur named Deane Beman and early in the round had a lengthy putt that was climbing to the hole when Beman did what many if us do: “Go, go,” he said. On the way to the next tee, Maxwell said his first sentence to Beman: “Never talk to my f**king ball again.” And in a Disney two-man event, his partner was Mark McCumber. Maxwell's long putt stopped a foot from the hole and McCumber said, “Good roll.” Maxwell: “If I want a good roll, I'll buy a bakery.”

Nice gesture

The National Blind Golfers Association visited World Golf Village last month and did a wonderful thing for our community. The WGV's mailing address is St. Augustine, which is the home for the Florida School for Deaf and Blind. It's a wonderful institution. The association invited the blind students to join them. Everyone went to the range and there was a lot of one-onone, the “If I can do it, so can you” sort of stuff that you usually only see in the movies. Where did the ball go? Listen, and you'll know … your hearing is better than sighted people. How do I know where to aim? Listen to your coach and do what he or she says. How do I know if I have the right club? Since you can't see the number on the club, feel it. You have better touch than sighted people. The upshot? The D&B is starting a golf team.

Furyk and Friends

The newest event on the PGA Tour Champions was a big hit at Jacksonville's Timuquana Country Club and it's part of a new trend: players put their name on a tournament and they play it at a posh club. Steve Stricker started it and Furyk (and, mainly, wife Tabitha) jumped in to have it at their club. “I can see more doing that,” said winner Phil Mickelson. How about him? “Hmmm. A lot of work.” Timuquana's board took a chance that the club membership would like the event despite the issues: the club basically shut down to members for 10 days, and then there was limited food and beverage services during the three competition days. Members each got two tickets but had to pay $30 for a parking pass, though many live close enough to bike or walk. There were numerous complaints prior; none after. Members were used to big crowd at the Players Championship but enjoyed seeing how pros play their course, and before reasonable-sized crowds. Plus, competition ended midafternoon, so there were very few beered up enough to yell “Go in the hole” and the sort. Others liked it, too. It beat the PGA Tour in TV viewership.

Coming soon?

Just a heads-up. You know about The First Tee, the well-supported organization that brings golf into people and places where it traditionally wasn't. They start with the under-10 set and go through high school. Then what? Nothing. The First Tee has gotten many kids interested in the game, but then they have no place to go. There's a move now among some very influential people to start what they might call The Second Tee. This would reach out to the graduates of The First Tee and move the instruction to a more advanced level. You'll hear about it.